Game Chef 2012 - 36 through 40

Last Chance to Tell the Tale of Coyote and Medicine Man by Bryan Hansel

The Good: It's a puppet show.  I am in love with the fact that this is basically how to come up with a puppet show.


The Bad: Mythological names, you know like the pseudo translated First Nations names like "Thunder Being" or "Walks with Heavy Foot" or "Dances with Wolves" or any other sort of Un-named Mythology.  Yup, nothing to see here.  But please do apply it to your culture, because that's what you're drawing from.  Totally.  Rules wise I'd almost rather Rock, Paper Scissors, just because you can do it one handed rather than two handed.


The Other: I get what this improv exercise, it's far more that than a game but it's still cool for that, tries to do.  I applaud it even, but I keep slamming my head on the appropriation and it's jarring.  But hey, if playing injun in the backyard floats your boat ... well ... fuck you.


Would I Play It? Let me take the rules, and make it a different creation myth and yes.  I mean, make a fantasy world, just ... *sigh*

Like moths… by Artur Cnotalski and Szymon Gosek

The Good: I love this game.  You're grafted together monsters, trying to find the lamp that will ultimately be your survival.  The mechanic is very straightforward and the narrative bonuses seem simple and easy to grasp.


The Bad: Layout of the game could be a little better (nits, I know).  Maybe giving more of a framework for the length of the game would have been helpful.  There was space for it.


The Other: I also really like the ability mechanic, and the guidelines for it.  There's a lot of leeway, and potential for abuses, but that's why there is a GM in this game.


Would I Play It? I'm sorry, I can't hear you right now because my gills are acting up ... in short, yes.

EULA: the game (+ supplements) by Keyl and Zhaconda Sunders

The Good: The whole concept really.  That the technology requires you to keep paying in order to use it is brilliant.  I think that the whole laying down cards and cutting them for their info is pretty great too.  I'm all for getting a bunch of index cards and doing that.  The dynamic between what you know, what you want, what your weakness is and who is going to pay for what is great.


The Bad: There's a little bit of "Ooh, those cannibalistic Africans" which falls into the same Pan-Ism that bug me about First Nations.  Lots of places in Africa, they're all kinda different.  It's like someone saying, "In America" and hand waving.  Also, I would like to feel a little more tension, I don't see anything that threatens the character, if they can't do anything they just withdraw.  More Danger Please!


The Other: I love this idea about a dystopian future where your technology is based upon the future of DRM software and encoding.  People, steal this idea now!  Also, love the "fold the name board like this" graphic.


Would I Play It? Yes, as long as I could get the patent for it.

The murderers of Dr. Moreau by Anonymous Typing Monkey

The Good: The idea of a totem in the middle really helps keep people pushing forward.  You have to lean forward to be engaged in the story.  The constant push between frustration and position seemed really interesting both in terms of why those names were chosen and how they work.


The Bad: However, I was only able to kind of half figure out how they work.  I would have appreciated a little more in the way of structure as to what exactly happens.  A list would make this play a lot faster.


The Other: I'm amused that there were two Moreau games one right after the other.  I'm sure I'll see more, but I'm kind of shocked that there are only two.  Though the first one is far more in keeping with the Isle of Dr. Moreau rather than just using the name for the Doctor ingredient.


Would I Play It? Probably once, just to see if I would play it again.

True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes by Alex “il mietitore” Isabelle

The Good:  I'm down with a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song for a game.  Heck, most of my Shadowrun unofficial titles are all BNL songs.  The blood concept is great, two bits of paper that you burn to force the narration onto someone.  I like it a lot.


The Bad: This is kinda why stereotypes are bad.  I'm not going to hold Alex to a kind of standard I hold people who live in North America because this isn't the history of his country.  However, there's a little too much "backyard indian" with this game for my comfort.


The Other: Live band for the win!  If you can play this game with a live band in the background you have waaaaaay cooler friends then I do.


Would I Play It? No, mainly because of the "backyard indian" effect.